Now the question going into Monday's Game 6 is whether Chicago Blackhawks captain Toews will even play, and whether the Boston Bruins will have their best all-around player, Patrice Bergeron. Both players were injured in Chicago's 3-1 win Saturday that leaves the Blackhawks one win short of claiming their second league championship in four years.

"We're hopeful (Toews) will be ready for the next game," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville.

Both injuries are critical because over the last two games this series has shifted from being about depth and role players to being about star players stepping up and grabbing the spotlight. The first few games were about role players like Chicago's Andrew Shaw and Boston's Daniel Paille, and now the focus is on the top lines and the premium defensemen.

Kane scored two goals for Chicago in the victory, and since Quenneville put them back together on a line with Bryan Bickell, the Blackhawks have gone 2-0 and scored nine goals against goalie Tuukka Rask, the same goalie who limited the Pittsburgh Penguins to two goals in four games.

Meanwhile, top line of Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Nathan Horton was on the ice for all three Chicago goals.

Kane and Toews have grown up together in the Chicago organization, and the big wonder of the series is why Quenneville didn't put them together sooner.

"We're different-style players, but I think we complement each other very well," Kane said. "We've played together for six years now. I know we didn't play together very much this year, but throughout times in the past you can look back at those times that we've had success. (Toews) a great player. He makes it easy to play hockey."

Quenneville said the line, with Bickell doing the heavy lifting as a physical player, works well because "everyone brings something different to the party."

Patrick Sharp remembers watching the 2007 NHL draft coverage and hearing analysts saying No. 1 pick Patrick Kane, a smallish winger with a boyish face, could possibly make the Blackhawks in his first season.

"I got a chuckle out of that," Sharp said. "Then he came in and won rookie of the year and has gotten better every year since."

Kane now has seven goals in his past seven playoff games, and looks the most dangerous player in this series. He has played his way into Conn Smythe Trophy consideration.

"He has a lot of big goals in his short career," Sharp said. "He has done a lot of in six years and I think his best is yet to come."

With Marian Hossa playing, but not getting much done because of an undisclosed injury, and Toews' status now unknown, Kane's becomes even more important.

But the true pressure is now on Boston's top players to rise up and to perform at the level that Toews and Kane have been at for the past two games.

Neither Krejci, the league's leading playoff scorer, nor Horton has a goal in the championship series.

Plus, Boston's top defenseman Zdeno Chara, who has played more minutes played than any other defenseman or forward in the playoffs, suddenly has lost his ability to dominate the defensive zone. He is minus â??5 over the past two games, and he has been on the ice for eight of Chicago's last nine goals.

He did score a third period goal when the Bruins were entertaining a comeback hopes. Krecji and Lucic assisted.

Johnny Boychuk, another key Boston player, hit Toews' head when he seemed to cause the injury, but he doesn't believe he will face any supplemental discipline review.

"He was bending forward and I was trying to stop him from going to the net ," Boychuk said. "I'm pretty sure it was clean."

Quenneville confirmed that Toews "wanted to play" in the third period, suggesting that he might have a better shot at playing than Bergeron.

Bergeron is the team's best all-around player. He is their top faceoff man, and their best defensive forward. Plus, he has been a dangerous scorer of late.

Clearly, Julien believes the Boston stars will rise up in Game 6. "You are not going to push us away that easily," he said.